BANGKOK, Sept 6 – Low income people owning television sets will face higher cost for their TV use as they must pay additionally to buy set-top boxes to enable them to receive better signals after television stations in Thailand switch to digital from the current analog system, according to Jamnan Siritan, President of the Professionals of Broadcasting Council.
The National Council for Peace and Order which took administrative power on May 22 has given the green light to the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) to distribute coupons worth Bt690 to 22.9 million households to buy either a digital TV set-top box or a TV set with a digital TV tuner.
But the Bt690 coupon is less than Bt1,000 earlier asked by the Federation, said Ms Jamnan.
In a related development, Wannee Rattanaphon, president of the Media Agency Association of Thailand, said although the economy in Thailand has turned sluggish this year and television stations are in transition toward the digital system, it is projected that revenue from advertisement for television, radio and print media in 2014 would grow about 6 per cent, equivalent to Bt130 billion.
Revenue from these businesses during the first half this year amounted approximately 72.49 billion baht, said Ms Wannee, adding that this year’s revenue projection is not difficult to achieve.
As the new government of Prime Minister Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha is attempting to push national economy to sustain growth next year by 4-4.5 per cent, enabling the public’s purchasing power to increase, it is expected that the advertising business would grow some 6-8 per cent.
